The Santa Ana winds are raging through Los Angeles on a night when Philip Marlowe stops for a drink at a bar across the street from his flat. The place is empty except for a drunk who orders far too many straight shots of rye. The bartender confides in Marlowe that he wants to send the drunk home.

At that moment, a man brusquely enters the bar and asks, “Seen a lady in here, buddy? Tall, pretty, brown hair, in a print bolero jacket over a blue crêpe silk dress. Wearing a wide-brimmed straw hat with a velvet band” (164). When everyone denies seeing her, the newcomer orders a quick drink and starts to head outside toward his automobile before wheeling around to stare at the drunk.

The latter has miraculously sobered up and points a gun at the stranger’s chest. Saying, “So long, Waldo,” the drunk shoots the man and flees the bar. The bartender and Marlowe call the police. The cops arrive, followed by a medical examiner and two detectives named Copernik and Ybarra. Although the dead man has no identification, they lift prints from the corpse and tell Marlowe that he can go home.